Films & Schedules
- INDIA

THE GOOD ROAD

DIRECTOR: Gyan Correa - INDIA

Several groups of people are making their way along a desolate stretch of highway in India’s dangerous Kutch region. Seven-year-old Adiyta, from Mumbai, has become separated from his parents and is befriended by a truck driver on a perilous smuggling mission. Poonya, an 11-year-old girl who has run away from the city to find her grandmother, finds herself in danger of becoming a victim of human trafficking. Over the course of 24 hours, the lives of these protagonists and others are dramatically intertwined as The Good Road explores the intersection of modern, urban India with its unseen, underdeveloped rural counterpart....

Several groups of people are making their way along a desolate stretch of highway in India’s dangerous Kutch region. Seven-year-old Adiyta, from Mumbai, has become separated from his parents and is befriended by a truck driver on a perilous smuggling mission. Poonya, an 11-year-old girl who has run away from the city to find her grandmother, finds herself in danger of becoming a victim of human trafficking. Over the course of 24 hours, the lives of these protagonists and others are dramatically intertwined as The Good Road explores the intersection of modern, urban India with its unseen, underdeveloped rural counterpart. This starkly beautiful metaphysical road movie, shot in one of India’s most isolated locations, won the Best Gujarati Feature Prize at India’s National Film Awards and is this year’s Indian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. (92 mins.)

THE LUNCHBOX

DIRECTOR: Ritesh Batra - INDIA

Ila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a lonely Mumbai housewife who yearns to spark the affections of her inattentive husband. She patiently prepares a special lunch for him to enjoy at work, but through a mix-up with the delivery service, the meal ends up at the desk of Saajan (Irrfan Khan), an isolated accountant on the verge of retiring. Thrilled by the great surprise but compelled to acknowledge the mistake, Saajan starts an ongoing exchange of warm letters between the lonely pair, through which they reveal their innermost secrets. On his retirement, Sajaan goes in search of the cook of his dreams....

Ila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a lonely Mumbai housewife who yearns to spark the affections of her inattentive husband. She patiently prepares a special lunch for him to enjoy at work, but through a mix-up with the delivery service, the meal ends up at the desk of Saajan (Irrfan Khan), an isolated accountant on the verge of retiring. Thrilled by the great surprise but compelled to acknowledge the mistake, Saajan starts an ongoing exchange of warm letters between the lonely pair, through which they reveal their innermost secrets. On his retirement, Sajaan goes in search of the cook of his dreams. Batra’s oftentimes comedic debut feature is an intimate, heartfelt exploration of the fragility of human connection in which every gesture has meaning and every wonderfully observed image has compassion. (104 mins.)